In the humid upstairs room, butterflies emerged from pupae attached to white painted canvases. Flowers and sugar water enabled the butterflies to fly, mate and lay eggs until they died. In the second installation, monochrome gloss paintings, with the bodies of dead butterflies fixed into the paint, surrounded a central table punctuated by overflowing ashtrays. The ashtrays were included to give the impression of a private view. Hirst explained of the exhibition: “I tried to make a comparison between art and life in the upstairs and downstairs installations, a crazy thing to do when in the end it’s all art.”[1]

‘In and Out of Love (Butterfly Paintings and Ashtrays)’ was the first exhibition of works from Hirst’s series of butterfly monochrome paintings. Following the show, a detail from one of the works was featured on the cover of the first edition of ‘Frieze’ magazine (July 1991).

‘In and Out of Love (Butterfly Paintings and Ashtrays)’ was sold at the exhibition, whilst Hirst retained ownership of ‘In and Out of Love’ (White Paintings and Live Butterflies)’. The two works are united at Tate Modern’s 'Damien Hirst' retrospective for the first time since their exhibition at Woodstock Street.